Board Accused of Trying to Renege on Teacher Pact

Nearly four weeks after the Los Angeles teachers strike ended, the president of United Teachers-Los Angeles on Tuesday accused the Los Angeles Unified School District of trying to renege on key elements of an agreement to give teachers and parents broader powers to run schools.

But district officials said most of the differences have been resolved and that final wording of the teachers’ contract could be ready today. District officials said they expect the agreement to be “signed and sealed” by Monday.

“I’m very confident that we’ll work these things out,” said board member and union ally Warren Furutani.

UTLA President Wayne Johnson called a press conference at union headquarters on West 3rd Street near downtown to draw attention to what he said were attempts by district negotiators to “undercut” the authority of new school councils called for in the contract.

Nine-Day Strike

He also denounced the Board of Education’s decision to give most administrators, who do not have union representation, the same salary increase that teachers won after their nine-day strike in May.

The controversial councils will be composed of teachers, parents, administrators and others and will make decisions that typically have been made chiefly by the principal--specifically on matters dealing with student discipline, schedules, spending and use of certain school equipment. The councils are a critical component of the new three-year contract with teachers that provides for a 24% salary increase over three years.

Johnson said the disagreements center on the operation and composition of the new “shared decision-making” councils. He said the union wants decisions to be made by a majority vote of the members present at any given meeting and that it seeks assurances that parent members are not district employees.

“They are trying to renege on some of the language in the school-based management proposal,” he said. “It’s really like dealing with some sleazy, second-rate street hustler.”

District officials, however, said that Johnson, who has not directly participated in the negotiating sessions, is misinformed.

Union Vice President Helen Bernstein, a member of the UTLA bargaining team, confirmed that as of Tuesday morning, the district and union had resolved those issues. But Bernstein said she is not convinced that the district is sincere in its desire for the councils.

‘Excellent Offer’

Board President Roberta Weintraub said, “The district is not reneging--not in the slightest. As a matter of fact, we counter-offered with an excellent offer that should hopefully satisfy everyone.”

Weintraub and chief district negotiator Dick Fisher said the board agreed last week to the union’s demand that council decisions be made by a majority vote of the members present at a meeting. In exchange, Fisher said, the union agreed to a district counter-proposal that votes be scheduled only if all council members are notified through a published agenda at least five days in advance of the meeting.

Fisher also said that the union’s negotiating team agreed to allow parents who work for the district to serve on the councils.

Johnson said he is opposed to requiring the councils to circulate agendas before scheduling a vote, which is common practice for many government decision-making bodies, including the Board of Education and the California Legislature.

“They’re trying to build in a stalling process here,” he said.

Raise Criticized

Johnson also harshly criticized the Board of Education’s decision to give top administrators, beginning with assistant superintendents, a 16% raise over two years and middle-level managers, such as principals, 24% over three years. Under this agreement, Supt. Leonard Britton’s $141,000 annual salary will rise next year to $164,462.

“There is something terribly wrong here,” the union chief said.

Three board members--Jackie Goldberg, Furutani and Julie Korenstein--had opposed the 16% raise for top management, arguing for considerably smaller, flat-rate increases. They were overruled by the four other board members--Rita Walters, Alan Gershman, Leticia Quezada and Weintraub. Traditionally, the board has automatically given all administrators the same raise as teachers.

Goldberg said she opposed the 16% raise because it would further widen the salary gap between teachers and management.

Middle Management

“I’m not saying that the people in top management don’t work hard and aren’t valuable to the system. They are. But you can’t have their salaries get further away from those of middle management and teachers,” she said.

The three-year, 24% raise also went to 18,300 other employees who are not represented by unions, including food service workers, supervisors and public information officers.